Latest Photos from NASA's Mars Rover

Updated Feb. 20, 2013 5:00 p.m. ET

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NASA's Curiosity rover is in its sixth month on Mars; this self-portrait was made by combining dozens of exposures taken by the rover's cameras.
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The land around the rover is desertlike, as shown in this Jan. 27 photo transmitted by the rover. Curiosity is standing on a patch of flat, veined rock called 'John Klein' in the 'Yellowknife Bay' area of Gale Crater.
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The rover is equipped with a rotary-percussion drill for its two-year mission to determined whether the Gale Crater ever has offered environmental conditions favorable for microbial life.
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In early February the Curiosity rover drilled a pair of holes, shown here. The first sample drilling was the hole on the right; the second, deeper hole was the first use of the drill to collect a rock sample. The left-hand hole is 0.63 inch in diameter and 2.5 inches deep.
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The result of the digging: powdered rock in the rover's scoop. The next step is for the rover to transfer part of the powder to its built-in laboratories for analysis.
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Ultraviolet light-emitting diodes cast a glow upon a Martian rock in this photo taken by NASA Jan. 22. The image is part of the first set of nighttime images taken by the Mars Hand Lens Imager on the rover's right hand.
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An image released by NASA Jan. 15 shows the veined, flat-lying rock selected as the first drilling site for the Curiosity rover. The rover's right camera, equipped with a telephoto lens, was about 16 feet from the site when the photo was taken.
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A rover-shot image of Yellowknife Bay inside Gale Crater. The rectangle superimposed on the left image shows the location of the enlarged portion on the right. In the right image, white arrows point to veins, and black arrows point to mineral concentrations that suggest the past presence of water.
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Inclined layering known as cross-bedding is visible in this image of an outcrop called Shaler.
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A map shows the pace taken by NASA's Mars Curiosity rover, from where it landed at a site subsequently named 'Bradbury Landing' to its position on Dec. 17. The inset shows the most recent legs of the traverse in greater detail.
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The sinuous rock feature in the lower center of this mosaic of images recorded by Curiosity is called 'Snake River.' The images were taken on Dec. 20. On Jan. 3, Curiosity drove about 10 feet (3 meters) to get a closer look at Snake River before proceeding to other nearby rocks.
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An image taken by the Mars Hand Lens Imager on the rover shows the patch of rock cleaned in the first use of the rover's Dust Removal Tool, on Jan. 6. The tool is a motorized, wire-bristle brush on the turret at the end of the rover's arm.
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A close-up image shows details of the rock texture and color in an area where the rover's Dust Removal Tool brushed away dust.
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The rover's Mast Camera took this image of the camera on the rover's arm, the Mars Hand Lens Imager, on Sept. 5. The image shows that MAHLI has a thin film or coating of Martian dust on it. This dust accumulated during Curiosity's final descent to the Martian surface.
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Dozens of images captured by the Mars Hand Lens Imager were combined for this self-portrait, which was released Dec. 11. The rover is located at Rocknest, the spot in Gale Crater where the mission's first scoop sampling took place. Four scoop scars can be seen in front of the rover.
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A picture released Dec. 3 shows a view of the third and fourth trenches made by the 1.6-inch-wide (4-cm) scoop on the rover. The image was taken by the Mars Hand Lens Imager on Oct. 31 and shows some of the details of the 'Rocknest' wind drift sand.
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A 'bite mark' where the rover's robotic arm scooped up Martian soil on Oct. 7. Scientists enhanced the color in this image to show the Martian scene as it would appear under lighting conditions on Earth, which helps in analyzing the terrain.
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